PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums Band-in-a-Box for Windows "No DXi synthesizers are installed" therefor no MIDI instruments play

I have a problem with playback of Band-in-a-Box song files which seems mainly to be related to a pop-up message saying:

“No DXi synthesizers are installed. You can install the Coyote GM Wavetable synth from the main Band-in-a-Box screen Help Menu. Then reboot Band-in-a-Box. More info at pgmusic.com/DXinfo.htm.”

Thus, I do not get any sound where I have selected a Midi instrument patch, most important being the trombone which I have as the on just about every file as the Melody instrument. Also no instruments are heard where I have used Midi Styles, except drums because they are a RealTrack. Real Styles play fine but with no melody of course.

If I select “Route MIDI Thru to MIDI Driver instead of the Synth, I hear only the MIDI tracks and the RealTracks do not play!

A bit of background about my setup:

I am using the 2017 Audiophile version of Band-in-a-Box from the external drive supplied by PG Music. Although the program runs from the external drive, I have all my BiaB song files on the main hard drive, which is the way I have always had it set up. I have installed Build 467 Update but not the 467 RealTracks update.

My Operating System is Windows 10 and it has given me nothing but trouble, including a large update which crashed my hard drive and I had to get a new one installed. When I got my computer back, they had transferred as much a possible from the old hard drive. I did not have to reinstall Band-in-a-Box because it worked fine when I plugged in the external drive. It was working well until a couple of days ago. The only thing I can think of that may have created a problem with the DXi synthesizer was a recent small Windows 10 update.

In the ‘Options’, ‘Midi/Audio Drivers Setup’, under MIDI Output Driver, I have “Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth”. Under Synthesizer/Sound Card, I have “General MIDI Instrumentr Misc.”, a ticked box for “Use VSTi/Dxi Synth”, and the “VSTi/DXi Synth Settings” is outline in blue.

When you select this outlined box, you get another pop-up box headed “VST/DX Synths/Plugins (synth in first slot)” with “Default Synth” highlighted in blue and a dot in the Edit circle of the top item. There is an entry of ‘None’ under plugin. I have absolutely no idea what to do with this box and have never previously had to use it. In fact, I feel there may have been another type of box there previously which did not require any entries – if indeed this one does. To tell the truth, I have never used Plugins previously, as far as I know. The note you get when you put the curser on this blue highlighted box is, “The default synth is the midi synth that will apply to all songs, unless a custom track synth is applied. The other 3 slots are for F/X that apply to all tracks.” So, this does look like the area where I should make a selection. However, the program has already told me that there are ‘No DXi synthesizers are installed’, so I guess that is the reason I cannot find one in the list that comes up?

I have tried to install the Coyote GM Wavetable synth from the main Band-in-a-Box screen Help Menu as instructed and it seems to be installing but I still get the ‘No DXi synthesizers’ are installed message. There is a program called CoyoteWT (dated 2010) and CoyoteWT.dll (dated 2011) in my Program Files (x86) and the uninstall programs seem to have been updated by my latest attempts to install the synth from the Band-in-a-Box main menu etc. I guess this is the program that I was using previously up until a couple of days ago.

When you try to install it into Band-in-a-Box in the plugin slot, you get a message that says “C:Program Files (x86)/Coyote/CoyoteWT/Coyote/WT.dll is not a valid VST plugin! Note that only 32 bit Plugins can be used. You can use 64 bit plugins if you have jbridge installed, info and purchase at www.pgmusic.com/jbridge.htm.” If this is the case, how come it was working previously? But maybe this is a major part of the problem?

You can tell that I am extremely confused by all this and, more importantly, I cannot use Band-in-a-Box, which for me is a daily event often lasting several hours. Frankly, I think the program has progressed to a point which is way beyond my ability with a computer. Or maybe it is Windows 10 causing the problems? I do know that I get at least one call a week from my mates who also use the program with Windows 10 asking me about various problems they are encountering. Perhaps we are all getting a bit too long in the tooth for modern computer technology?

Sorry this is so long and rambling but I thought I had better include everything that I have tried to solve this problem. Maybe it’s a simpler solution than I think. Hopefully so anyway.

Hi Graham,

Firstly, do you run BIAB in administrator mode?

As a test, try this...

1. Close BIAB.

2. Right click on the BIAB start-up icon and select "Run As Administrator" from the menu that pops up.

Does this help? If not, continue with the following...


1. Navigate to your Audiophile USB drive.

2. In the root directory, you'll find a file called "Setup.exe". Start this up (this is the BIAB install procedure).

3. Keep selecting "Next", "OK" or "Accept" until you get to the screen shown on the image below.

4. At the screen shown by the image below, choose the minimal install (Option 1 - Run BIAB from the USB drive). This will put Coyote WT onto your computer.

When you restart BIAB after re-intalling, start the progam in Administrator Mode. Go into the MIDI driver settings and then select Coyote WT as your default VSTi/DXi Synth. All the other settings that you have given above are good and will work.

Regards,
Noel

Hi Noel,
Thanks for your interest in my problems.

I did everything that you suggested but the problem remains and I get exactly the same error messages. There is still no midi sound because the Coyote WT synth is not playing.

Running as an administrator, selected from the start-up icon, did not appear to change anything.

Using the procedure you outline, Coyote WT does not appear to be changed from what was originally in the Program Files (x86), except for uninstall. The list under Coyote, CoyoteWT is:

Name Date Modified Type Size
CoyoteWT 14/02/2010 11.40... Compiled HTML 17 KB
CoyoteWT.dll 26/03/2011 2.32PM Application extens 232 KB
License 21/03/2011 10.24... Text Document 4 KB
ReadMe 20/03/2011 2.01PM Text Document 1 KB
RegDXi 15.02/2010 10.51... Windows Batch File 1 KB
unins000.dat 16/10/2017 9.13AM DAT File 15 KB
unins000 16/10/2017 9.12AM Application 705 KB

Should I expect all the dates to change to today's date if the reinstallation is successful? Or did the installation procedure not change them because the files were okay? Whatever, it does not produce any sound on my Melody track in Band-in-a-Box.

The bb file on Audiophile D has changed to today's date.

After the Band-in-a-Box complete installation failed a couple of times, I tried installing just the Coyote GM Wavetable synth from the main Band-in-a-Box Help Menu. That did not make any difference either - as per last time.

Could it be that what I have installed is "Not a valid VST Plugin" as one of my error messages suggests and I mentioned in my first post?

bb\DXiPluginList.ini

what's in that ?

If you type regedit in the win search
Ctrl+F
CoyoteWT

copy the folder number like below
bb\DXiPluginList.ini


Not sure if this would help
Band-in-a-Box (Coyote WaveTable) update for Windows 10

EDIT: in C:\Program Files (x86)\Coyote\CoyoteWT
there's a bat file to register RegDXi.bat you can right click Run as Admin...
"regsvr32 CoyoteWT.dll"

or run SetupCoyoteWT12.exe as admin

Thanks for those suggestions from Pipeline. Unfortunately, I do not quite understand what I am supposed to do. I think an expanded explanation might help because I am just not experienced in making such adjustments to the program.

I did try the 'Band-in-a-Box (Coyote WaveTable) update for Windows 10' suggestion but it did not achieve anything. I think the update has been included in later versions of Band-in-a-Box anyway. Whether they have any effect of my installation of CoyoteWT, I do not know.

I am still able to use Band-in-a-Box for practicing purposes because the Rhythm section is still playing but I need to hear the melody line and any other front line instruments that are supposed to be playing along with me.

I am wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem. Some aspects of it are similar to the topic "cannot create wav because no Dxi installed"??? Posted by joden on Sat Oct o7 2017.

In C:\Program Files (x86)\Coyote\CoyoteWT
there's a bat file to register RegDXi.bat you can right click Run as Administrator.
Or in the bb folder on the hard drive you should have SetupCoyoteWT12.exe right click Run as Administrator.

Or get VSTSynthFont (1.096 / 2.096) - VST instrument
http://www.synthfont.com/Downloads.html

then load an sf2 GM
http://www.synthfont.com/soundfonts.html
http://pphidden.wixsite.com/compifont
https://musescore.org/en/node/94941
https://musescore.org/en/node/103046

Or... there might be a simple fix that someone else will come up with.

Graham,

Here's an alternative approach to Pipeline's that might do the job.

1. Open "Preferences | MIDI Driver".

2. On IMAGE 1 below, make sure that your settings are the same settings as shown by the #1, #2, #3, #4. (If I read your first post correctly, then this is what you already have.)

3. Now click on the button numbered #5.

4. Once the next window is open (IMAGE 2), click on the top button (shown by #6).

5. If Coyote WT is present here (#7) then simply select it. If not, press the Options button (#8).

6. This will open a new window. On this new window, press button #9 and scan your computer for DXi plugins. Once this is done, press button #6 again and see if Coyote WT is now listed.

7. If Coyote is still not listed. Press the options button (#8) again and, this time, select button #10. Now manually navigate to where Coyote WT is installed and select it.

It's possible that Windows 10 might not let you manually load the DXi unless User Account Control is disabled temporarily. Don't worry about that at the moment, though, we can cross that bridge later if needed.

Hope this helps,
Noel

Thanks again to Pipeline and Noel. Unfortunately after many hours trying to fix the problem using your suggestions, I really am no further advanced in having a good quality trombone play as my Melody instrument.

First, using Noel's last post methods. First let me say Noel that the trouble you go to with numbered instructions and screen prints is fantastic and very easy to follow!

Re "Instruction 2." the settings are the same as shown #1 to #4.

Re "Clicking on button 5" and then going to "6" for the Default Synth, there are none shown and I had to manually navigate to where Coyote is installed. Incidentally, that location is in Program Files (x86), which I believe indicates it is a 64-bit program. Listed within this Coyote heading is a first sub level of 'CoyoteWT'. Then the following list:
?CoyoteWT
CoyoteWT.dll
License
ReadMe
RegDxi
unins000.dat
unins000

I am wondering which level you are supposed to click on to make it jump into place. They do all seem to be there in the info that is trying to be transferred.

I am not sure about that yellow question mark over the illustration on the first item?

However, the program still does not install as an Added VSTi plugin and you get a message saying,

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Coyote\CoyoteWT\CoyoteWT.dll is not a valid VST plugin! Note that only 32 bit plugins can be used. You can use 64 bit plugins if you have jbridge installed, info and purchase at www.pgmusic.com/jbridge.htm."

I tried other ways of installing it with Band-in-a-Box such as in the main screen Plugins for the trombone but they all resulted in the same message.

The net result is that any time you go to Options, Midi/audio driver setup, you get the message "No DXi synthesizers are installed.etc."

I am wondering if the problem really is that I do not have jbridge installed? And so I have ordered a copy to download. Unfortunatley it might take 24 hours before a get the download details from the jbridge supplier. I also am wondering, as I said before, why the program was working with no problems whatsoever until three days back? Maybe I had jbridge and it got lost somehow? I did a search but it is not there.

A couple of peculiarities I have observed.

1. Although the trombone is not playing when I play the file, it does play when I am entering melody notes in the Notation window. So I can put tunes in but I cannot play them back.

2. When I am playing my files, there is no sound from the Melody track, but when I stop the tune playing, the very last note the trombone was playing does sound through the speakers. Very strange.

I also tried Pipeline's two suggestions and did end up with being able to install and alternative synth 'Synth1'. Everything worked fine with the instructions but it did not have individual instrument sounds, like the trombone, as far as I could tell, and all you got was an electric keyboard playing everything. At least it showed that the installation method for 'Added VSTi Plugin' is okay.

I am wondering if the Coyote GM Wavetable synth from my Band-in-a-Box Audiophile disk is maybe corrupted?

Sorry if I am seeming a bit dense on all this but my reason for absolutely loving Band-in-a-Box has always been its main claim, "Band-in-a-Box is so easy to use!" Anyway, as I said previously, I used to be a big Windows fan also but Windows 10 has cured that and I still wonder if it is the cause of the problems I am having?

Looks like a job for Teamviewer https://www.teamviewer.com/en/download/windows/

Hi Graham,

A couple of points...

1. "Program Files(x86)" is where all the 32-bit software items are kept. The ordinary "Program Files" is for 64-bit software. It's good to see that you have Coyote WT installed. The file with the yellow question mark is a Help file for use with Windows.

2. When you say that you can't load CoyoteWT.dll into BIAB using the "Add VSTi" option (under button #6 in my previous instructions), that makes sense. Coyote WT is a DXi plugin and not a VSTi plugin.

I apologise because it seems that I haven't explained myself properly. Please read on and I'll try to elaborate...

3. As far as I know, the only way to add DXi plugins is to follow my instructions from the last part of instruction (5) where I talk about using buttons #8 and #9 and #10 (on my previous post's images) -- I've pasted this section of the instructions below from my previous post.


Hope this helps
Noel

• my latest song: What A Crazy Thing (cowritten with floyd jane)

This is SynthFont set as default synth, Audio > Dxi Synth Settings.
EDIT: you can set the default soundfont in Options:

Graham, I haven't read every word in this thread but I see the problem. First, a VSTi and DXi are completely different. The i stands for instrument, if there's no i then it's an effect like reverb, delay, whatever. There is nothing for you as a user to do regarding a Dxi. It simply installs with Biab, that's it. You select the Coyote Wavetable as already described, hit Play and you hear your midi instruments.

This is dead simple.

You DO NOT need to manually install a DXi but you DO need to manually install a VSTi. It's important you understand that difference. I keep saying people really need to have a basic understanding of this stuff. You could have saved yourself however many hours of aggravation you've gone through.

Open your external PGM drive and click on Setup. See the three options. One of those is to install just Biab alone, not the Real Tracks. When the installation window opens you'll see the Coyote Dxi is checked by default. Let Biab install using the defaults and you'll be good to go. You won't lose anything, Biab just installs on top of itself and all your songs and whatever else you have in your Biab folder stays the same.

It that doesn't work then it's a problem with your computer itself, not Biab. Make sure your PC boots up with you as Admin, not a user then reinstall Biab. Admin should be the default but you had someone else reinstall your system so check that. Yes, you can also right click on the Biab icon and select Run as Administrator. But why do that alone, it's your computer you should be the Admin for everything.

Bob

Kent from PGMusic suggested the following for a similar problem in RealBand. I don't know if the same applies for BIAB, but perhaps worth a try.



Might want to look and see if that file is also present in the BIAB folder.

Hi,

Yes, this issue/fix does apply to Band-in-a-Box as well. I was about to post a link to that thread.

I'm thinking the file will be there, and deleting it will solve the problem immediately.

http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=432015#Post432015

Thanks
Kent
PG Music

Thank you everyone for your help. I did try most of the suggestions but unfortunately had no success until the last couple of posts.

First, working on Kents last but one post, I did reinstall Band-in-a-Box but was not able to do that without the Real Tracks because that option does not exist on my Audiophile version on an external drive. There are four options and I used the first one, which is just to install everything on the D drive. I also updated to the latest build just to make sure everything would be correct. I am not sure if that step was necessary. However, the Melody trombone still was not playing and I got exactly the same error messages. However, it is possible the reinstallaton was of some help in the final solution.

Then I searched on my D drive for that "MaxPluginsToScan.txt". I could not find it by inspecting every file, so I did a search on the D Drive and a file with that name was highlighted apparently in D/bb. So I deleted it from the Search page without having to locate it exactly.

I seems like that was the main problem because the Melody Track and any other midi tracks, such as the Soloist, are now sounding without having to do anything else. They started playing as soon as I called up the first Song file. So, a special thank you to John.

I hope that is the final solution because I did notice that a lot of my program files do not seem to be in the same place as they were before I had to replace my computer hard drive. I do not think the computer manufacturer has been keeping the drive in sync with Windows10 and the computer shop did some strange things to my setup. And maybe I did not reinstall some of the other programs correctly. I get lots of error messages these days.

However, If Band-in-a-Box goes on operating the way it is now, I will be very happy!

So Guys, thanks once again!

I just read that other thread. Just to understand this for the future, this is a Windows issue then? Or more to the point, the tech that "helped" Graham to reinstall everything on a new drive somehow caused this?

This sounds like yet another example of why we all should be adept at cloning our system drives. With a cloned image all you do in the event of a fatal system crash is copy the image onto a new drive, put it into the PC and it's like nothing happened, your complete system is back and off you go.

Bob

Yes Bob, I will be interested to hear what the experts feel was the cause of this problem but, if I had to put money on it, I would say it was deleting the "MaxPluginsToScan.txt" that solved it.

The funny thing is that as far as Band-in-a-Box was concerned, it was running fine for three weeks when I got it back with the new hard drive, so I do not know what caused the "MaxPluginsToScan.txt", or whatever, problem to emerge. As I said, the only thing I could think of was a Windows 10 update, but that is just guessing. Also it was a previous big Windows 10 update that caused my computer to crash, although Microsoft Help said that it was due to a fault on my hard drive. Who knows what was the real problem? Everyone wants to blame everyone else and sell you the most expensive solution to the problem.

It does seem that I wasted my money on jbridge but I still have not managed to download, decompress and install due to missing programs like winzip that went with the old hard drive. Anyway it does not seem that jbridge is necessary because the problem was solved. Hopefully.

So Bob, I am very interested to know your recommendation for the best method of cloning a whole hard drive?

I bought Acronis years ago, works fine and this thread reminds me I need to do another clone. I haven't done one for months. You know how that goes, you set up a system to help you but then get busy and forget to use it.

You're issue almost certainly had nothing to do with a Win10 update. I automatically get all the updates with zero issues. If some update was really causing all these problems it would be all over these forums along with other musicians forums. You know the old joke about how to tell who's the sucker at a private poker game? If you don't know then it's you.

As far as jbridge you only need that if you want to use a 64 bit plugin with a 32 big program. Do you know that difference? It's a bit complicated but basically Win10 is almost always installed as 64 bit but it could be installed 32 bit if that's what someone wants. Long story as to why or why not to do that.

Biab is a 32 bit app. 32 bit apps run fine on a 64 bit OS. But an audio plugin that's 64 bit will not run in a 32 bit host such as Biab. It has to be "bridged" hence the name jbridge. If you're not using any 64 bit plugin's there's no need for it. If a Biab user needs jbridge buy it through PGM then you know you have the right one.

Here's an example, Sampletank. ST 2.5 that we all installed for free as part of the Biab installation is 32 bit. But the new ST 3 that I have is 64 bit only. I knew that in order to run St3 as a plugin in either Biab or RB I had to get jbridge and not just the regular jbridge you see on their website, oh no, that's too easy. There is a special version of it just for Biab which is why you can't simply install this stuff without reading and understanding all the little details.

If all this is Greek to you Google it. Like I mentioned earlier, if you're working with digital audio you at least need to understand the terminology so you can ask intelligent questions.

And Graham, I don't mean just you personally, it's more of a generic "you" for anybody else who may be reading this.

Bob

Yes I use Acronis True Image also from bootable CD, there is Universal Restore that I got with it that can migrate a saved Win10 image to a new machine with different hardware, so if your motherboard burns out you can restore the image to a new pc keeping everything you had.

But as you have already spent money on things you didn't need, there are free cloning apps out there if you do a search, some will resize your OS to a larger/smaller drive and some won't, there may be one like Universal Restore, I will have to have a look.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feWeSGLl1uM

A big thanks to Graham Martin and everyone who spent hours posting this information. Using Windows 10 64-bit I had exactly the same problem as Mr. Martin, but this a new BIAB installation. Deleting the "MaxPluginsToScan.txt" file seems to have correct the problem for now.

Like Mr. Martin, I too purchased an unnecessary copy of Jbridge. It seems that we were both on the same path until discovering this help topic (first time to visit this site).

Thanks to everyone who contributed to resolve this situation.